Top 5 tips to keep your glass shower screen clean and sparkling

A glass shower screen is the perfect addition to a bathroom – and so much more contemporary, stylish and hygienic than the traditional shower curtain.

But if there’s one thing that can ruin the look of your glass shower screen, it’s grubby soap scum limescale build-up.

Here are our top 5 tips for keeping your glass shower screen looking clean and sparkly and as good as new.

1. Start as you mean to go on

The easiest and most effective way to keep your shower screen sparkling is to clean it regularly from the point it is installed. Indeed, hard water and soap scum build-up can cause lasting etching damage to glass, giving it a permanently cloudy appearance.

Having a trusted glass supplier like Peterlee Glass install your shower screen can go some way to mitigating this, as they will only ever manufacture shower screens in toughened glass, which is far more hard-wearing (not to mention safer) than standard annealed glass. But that doesn’t mean you should rest on your laurels when it comes to maintenance!

A quick wipe-down with a microfiber cloth or squeegee after every shower can do wonders to keep your shower screen clean, and will prevent any major residue build-up.

2. Use proprietary shower screen cleaners

Rather than using your standard bathroom cleaner, you’ll find you get better results with a cleaner specifically made for shower screens. They can be less abrasive for glass than some cleaners. Be sure to follow the instructions closely and give the cleaner plenty of time to soak into the soap scum and soften it up before you rinse it off.

3. Make your own glass cleaner

If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to run to the shops, or just fancy making your own cost-effective cleaner, you can easily make your own shower screen cleaner at home.

Mixing washing powder with a small amount of water to form a paste can make a very effective solution – simply apply the paste to your shower screen with a soft cloth, scrubbing gently. Leave it to soak for a good few minutes, then rinse off thoroughly. However, it’s worth testing this method in an inconspicuous area of your shower screen first as some laundry detergents can be quite abrasive – and make sure you don’t scrub to harshly!

Another good household product that can be repurposed for cleaning shower screens is fabric softener. Add 250mls of softener to a litre of warm water and spray or wipe it on to your shower screen. Again, give the mixture a few minutes to soften up the residue, then give it a good rinse.

4. Don’t leave your shower screen wet

Limescale build-up is caused by the natural salts present in water that are left behind when water is allowed to evaporate. So after all that hard work scrubbing your shower screen clean, you could still find the cloudy appearance returns once it dries! To avoid this, make sure you dry your shower screen after rinsing it down. Again, a squeegee or microfiber cloth are ideal for this.

5. Bring back the shine

Once you’ve cleaned the grime from your shower screen, you might be disappointed to see it’s still not as shiny as it was when new. This is when you can reach for the traditional housewives’ favourite – vinegar.

Mix one part white vinegar to one part cold water in a spray bottle and spray it on to your clean shower screen. Then simply give it a good buff up with a soft, dry cloth and hey presto – you’ll have a sparkly shower screen that looks as good as new.

Glass suppliers Peterlee Glass carry a range of standard size glass shower screens and can also manufacture custom glass shower screens to order for non-standard spaces. Find out more here, or get in touch with the Trade Centre.